Mills Halifax closes its doors

HALIFAX – After nearly a century in business, Mills Halifax has closed for good.

The company’s 20 full-time and part-time employees were informed the women’s clothing company was going into receivership at a meeting Thursday morning.

In a release, co-owners Lisa Gallivan and Candace Thomas said Peter Wedlake of Grant Thornton has been named the receiver to, ”manage Mills Halifax’s responsibilities to its creditors, suppliers and employees.”

“This is a sad day for the people who work at Mills, as well as their families, the people who shop at Mills and the people who sell to Mills,” Gallivan and Thomas said in the release.

“Clearly, there will be difficult days and weeks ahead through the receivership process.”

The owners thanked customers, managers, employees, suppliers and past owners.

Mills and Thomas were part of an ownership group that purchased Mills in 2012 from Halifax entrepreneur Mickey MacDonald. MacDonald bought the store in 2007.

Juanita Spencer, executive director of the Spring Garden Area Business Association, told News 95.7 Thursday she didn’t know about the closure until she was contacted by various local media outlets.

“I just want to say its a huge loss for the Spring Garden area and I think for everyone in Halifax to lose Mills. They’ve been a landmark here for the past 96 years. I’m not really sure of the circumstances that lead to mills closing their doors, but what it means for our area is that organizations and government need to work together to step up our efforts and improve the business climate for small independent businesses in our area,” says Spencer.

She adds locally owned businesses are struggling, particularly with the competition they face from big-box stores.

“The power centres and retail landscape have changed and local independent businesses are finding it difficult to compete. The cost of doing business downtown is significantly higher than in the suburbs. I hear frequently from my members that property taxes alone make setting up and conducting business in the downtown prohibitive for some.”

The co-owners say any and all questions related to the receivership process should be put to Peter Wedlake at Grant Thornton.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today